I would like to extend a warm welcome to another student in our classroom, Matthew! Please make sure you say hello to him and his family if you see them around the school. We are so excited to have them here at West Langley!

Division 5 has been busy this month with everything from our continued skating field trips, to Genius Hour, to learning with Ms. Ledlin (our student teacher), and much, much more! As the school year is creeping to a close, Ms. Olson would like to let you know more about the project and our presentation times.

About Genius Hour

Genius Hour gives students an hour each week on Thursday afternoons to learn about a topic that they are passionate or curious about. Each project idea was thought of and designed by the student, approved by the teacher, and must be based upon their individual research. Please note that this project is oriented on the documentation of the student's progress, not the final product! In many cases, students won't actually be able to accomplish their final goals by June, but should be able to document their learning along the way.

Several students are building projects (creating board games, stop-motion animation props, robots, etc.), whereas others are creating theirs digitally (making websites, filming stop-motion animation, learning to code, etc.). Please discuss the next steps of this project with your child and what they would like to accomplish by the end of the year. Their work so far can be found in their Google Drive folders.

Genius Hour Sharing Events

Students will have 2 opportunities to present their findings from their topics and central questions this year. The first will be at the end of May at the Inquiry Fair and the second will be the final presentation to the class in the middle of June. While that might still seem very far away, it's actually time to start considering what we need to accomplish before then!

Final presentations in June must have a digital component involved so that it can be shared on student blogs. Students are allowed to use any presentation or video software they like to present their learning journey. In class, we will be discussing which presentation tools will most effectively demonstrate their learning and I will guide them to one that will work best for them. Chances are that no matter which tool they end up selecting, there will need to be a lot of photo documentation of their project as possible, so please take lots of photos if they are working on this at home!

Photo Fun!

See the photos below to see some EduMinions learning magic (in no particular order at all; we have been very behind with our sharing!)